Zikan Timension Riders VS Game Heart
by Kamen Rider Dimension
Summary: A world ruined at the hands of one man... the Kamen riders destroyed by his work. The resistance stands, yet its power is dwarfed by the might he holds. Only one true rider is left, one who may come to inherit their power in order to destroy the evil that plagues this dimension. The time of the riders will come round once more under Zi-O! But first, he needs his own rider powers...
1. Clock 1 - Time to fight

**Zikan Timension Riders VS Game Heart is getting redone, changing up the world to keep things focused on the riders. With this, the majority of my maintenance should be complete; there's only one story left that I want to alter and that will come very soon. For now, welcome to the Zikan Timension!**

_Super hero time!_

_Chrom: Ren, enter the new world! Though, to call it a new world would be a lie!_

_Ren: A whole new dimension of riders awaits you! As the king of time, their power is yours __to claim!_

_Chrom: Arrival at new dimension complete! Well, not exactly without issue...!_

_Ren: yeah, same here. Looks like we're going to have a fight on our hands!_

_C + R: Now it's time! Break the chains!_

* * *

_Gamindustri: a world of joy and peace where both CPUs, the rulers of the land and the makers, who populate it, can create and play games that everyone can enjoy. Whether you're a seasoned gamer or simply starting out for the first time, it is guaranteed that there is something for you to enjoy in this gamer's paradise. The land is split into five, shared between Lady White Heart, who owns Lowee, Lady Black Heart, who owns Lastation, Lady Green Heart, who owns Leanbox, Lady Purple Heart, who owns Planeptune and Lord Game Heart, who owns Genmeer. Between them, no evil has managed to flourish and any threat to Gamindustri's peace has been struck down in the name of their people._

_But that may only be said for one dimension. There are countless dimensions that exist across the multiverse, each one with their own villains and heroes battling it out in order to establish their dominance. From the most simple to the downright fantastical, all sorts of legends exist across the multiverse, yet there are some who persist no matter what dimension you visit._

_The Kamen riders. _

_Warriors of justice that fight for what is right no matter the personal cost. Their senses of morals and courage have pushed their existence into every facet of reality. Though terrible evils may try their best to ravage the land, there will always be a kamen rider to fight them back. Even if God or Buddha doesn't exist, one may always believe in Kamen rider._

_But not all Kamen riders remain untainted of the force of evil. That is where our story begins, with a new arrival from a land not in the Mightydimension, not in the Creatimension, but a special dimension of conflict still in the process of being born. This special world, trying to be formed, holds the power of the Kamen rider far more than any other no matter what time or space they came from. That dimension…_

_Is the Zikan Timension._

* * *

_**GAME OVER!**_

"What? Again?" Pallad groaned as he settled back in the sofa, kicking his legs as Egi let out a cheer. The black haired Doctor had done so many times at this point and it was starting to get on his CPU Candidate's nerves. "What is that then, the tenth time you beat me? I suppose that's why you're the CPU and I'm the CPU Candidate. I'm guessing you want to give it another go then?"

"Maybe in a moment. After all, we've been doing this for a while." Egi dismissed, moving over the window to look over the people. Within the land of Genmeer, it was clear that the people were happy as they went about their everyday lives, perhaps in a way that could be described as a little less advanced than the other nations, but certainly not any less fortunately. While they might not have reached the fantastical levels of Lowee, Genmeer was a more traditional looking area, like a medieval town brought up to a much grander scale, the most advanced looking building being the Basilicom that Egi and Pallad were currently residing in. flicking back his doctor's coat, Egi gave a yawn, stretching out along the window as a cheerful grin appeared on his face. This was the nation he had managed to construct through the assistance of every CPU: a land built by a man who had no place holding as much power as he did. He was grateful for every little piece of cobblestone that formed Genmeer. "Things have been peaceful lately; no grand explosions rocking the place, no huge monsters causing a ruckus, no crazy dimension warping machines to come crashing down on my balcony."

_**T-TI-TIME M-MA-MAZ-I-INE!**_

"…Eh?" the man didn't know how to react when a sudden portal opened in the air directly above them, spitting out a black and white vehicle that careened in the air without direction. It was clearly damaged with the amount of acrid smoke and sparks flying from its body and if it continued the way that it did, then its landing point would be…! "Pallad, get ready! We're heading to the balcony!"

"What?" the CPU Candidate spluttered, falling off the sofa in his confusion. Rather than attempt to get back up however, a digital static appearing over his body before he disappeared completely from sight. His teleportation was an easy form of transportation, one that Pallad often used to mess with whoever he wanted whenever he wanted and if it weren't for the fact that Egi's equipment allowed him to do a similar teleportation trick, the Doctor would've been more annoyed. As it was however, Egi dusted off his jeans and black t shirt, running out after Pallad.

"What… is that thing?" a girl muttered, holding her arm before her face as a red scarf fluttered in the wind generated. Toei, the oracle of Genmeer, had simply been relaxing outside and going through some kata when an explosion in the air drew her attention upwards, a giant machine of sorts halfway through destruction zooming out and desperately flying about. There was no doubt that many of the people below were looking up in the exact same way, Egi and Pallad appearing by her side. Well, Pallad appeared by her side. Egi was panting slightly as he ran from within the Basilicom. "You guys, any clue?"

"Nope, but DODGE!" the doctor yelled, throwing himself over the oracle as she let out a small screech. The sound of an explosion far too close to home (most likely because it was literally_ on_ his home) caused an intense ringing to fill his ears, Egi shaking his head as he hesitantly lifted himself up. When he did, he was greeted to the sight of smoke and a completely shattered balcony, only a small portion remaining to hold a black bodysuit clad figure on the ground. Blond hair was covered in mud and dust, green eyes scanning the area cautiously, but that wasn't what gained Egi's attention. No, it was the white belt buckle that sat upon the new arrival's waist, looking eerily similar to a form of driver… "State your intentions! This is the nation of Genmeer and you have callously landed against the Genmeer Basilicom! Speak, or have your actions considered an attack!"

"…You said this was Genmeer right?" the intruder muttered, steel in his eyes as he rose to his full height. There was something inherently wrong with that look, something that made Egi reach into his inventory and pull out the neon green driver that had managed to bring him this far. Placing it at his waist, the doctor tightened his stance, giving a curt nod. "Then that driver, the Gamer driver… You are Kamen rider Game Heart."

"…I am Kamen rider Ex-aid, Lord Game Heart of Genmeer. I ask again, what are your intentions?" Egi spoke. In all honesty, it was kind of exhausting keeping up the whole government official thing, it was a far cry from his time when he was but a simple paediatrician, but it was necessary as a CPU. The response wasn't what he expected however, Egi, Pallad and Toei glancing to the strange watch like item that entered the intruder's hand. Before any could question it however, the white front face was rotated with a flick of the thumb, a helmet's face revealed as the white button on the top was pressed.

_**ZI-O!**_

"No matter how you phrase it, you are Kamen rider Game Heart. That means you are my target." The intruder declared, a ferocity entering his voice as he swung his arm out to the right. His eyes almost seemed to glow as he did so, spitting out the next part of his speech. "This world has no need for the likes of Kamen riders like you. Henshin!"

In a single move, the intruder slammed the watch onto the right hand port of his driver. An arrow travelled across the belt's screen from left to right in multiple colours, the same colours forming a quartet of clock faces that spun as he pressed a button on the top to release the latch. As a massive clock began to appear in the air behind him, silver hands ticking away as it spun anticlockwise, a firm push on the top of the right had the entire belt spin 360 degrees along with what seemed like the entire world. An ominous clock chime filled the air as a pink and black light blinded the three guardians of Genmeer.

_**RIDER TIME!**_

_**KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!**_

When they got their vision back, it was to be greeted by a mostly black silhouette with pink and silver dotted around the arms, gloves, trousers and chest plate as several rings of black and pink burst away from the intruder's body. The large draw of the suit was the huge band of silver that came down his front, paired with the white faced helmet dotted in a particular way with two uneven antennae acting as clock hands to give the impression of a person wearing a watch, complete with an ear piece moulded to look like a watch dial. The visor was the oddest part about him, the symbols done in pink within producing the word 'rider' in katakana having come from the clock that formed before as well as the antenna, much smaller katakana reading as 'Kamen' upon his forehead over the pink gem between the clock hands.

_**ZIKAN GILADE!**_

"My name is Chrom, the last good Kamen rider: Kamen rider Zi-O! Prepare yourself!" and with that battle cry, symbols flew from his driver to form a sword of black, the pink katakana upon the side spelling out sword as the blade attempted to cut Egi in two. If it weren't for his quick dodge, his body would've been completely bisected, the doctor falling back in order to keep his head firmly attached to his body.

"Okay then, actual attack. Never thought that part of the speech would actually occur!" Egi gasped as he rolled out of the way of another strike, only Toei's boot to the face as the oracle dashed off preventing any further attacks from Zi-O. As fast as he could possibly hope to go, Egi reached into his pocket, pulling out the pink cartridge held within and letting his finger hover above the button. "Pallad, Toei, make sure that no one gets harmed by the vehicle! It's time we finished this with no continues!"

_**MIGHTY ACTION X!**_

And as the black button was pushed, the top half of the cartridge took on a pink glow, a wave of similarly coloured energy spreading across all of the surrounding area. A screen pulsed to life behind him, an action game's title screen shown as it spat out several chocolate coloured blocks. Even as far away as he was, the doctor could hear the confused voices of the audience below as they gazed upon the blocks that now floated through the air, even the villain pausing to try and comprehend his surroundings. It wasn't just for show however, the doctor throwing his right arm out to the left and swinging them around, a quick twist of his hands having the cartridge upside down as he yelled out, the cartridge entering the first slot upon his belt as his other hand opened the pink lever on the front.

"Dai-Henshin!"

_**GASHAT!**_

_**GACHAA! LEVEL UP!**_

_**MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KICK! MIGHTY-MIGHTY ACTION! X!**_

As soon as the game cartridge was plugged in and the lever thrown wide, a pink hologram grew to life size in the air before the doctor, several portraits beginning to form a circle around him. a quick hand lashing out slammed into one of the portraits, the other images disappearing as a pink haired face looked back at the man, both hologram and portrait falling back to completely transform the doctor. No longer was there a simple combo of a yellow shirt and red jeans, instead replaced with a pink bodysuit with a chest piece reminiscent of a fighting game HUD, complete with a life bar. Three spikes of 'hair' jutted out from his helmet, white goggles with an emerald inset in the forehead surrounding glowing eyes of orange, neon green shoes bouncing from foot to foot as an eye-less face appeared upon his back.

_**GASHACON BREAKER!**_

Blade met hammer when the declaration filled the air, a pink hero leaping through the sky from block to block. The enemy Kamen rider wasn't fast enough to react against one who so easily eclipsed him in agility, struggling to dodge the strikes from a white bodied hammer. Each hit caused a hologram to appear in the air, the word 'hit' emblazoned in proud font with every landing blow. It was a power that had easily become famous in Genmeer, the power that served as a symbol that separated Lord Game Heart from every over CPU save for the obvious difference in gender.

_**JAKIIN!**_

"Who are you!?" but Ex-aid's call would be ignored as the armoured warrior slammed his hand on the pink A button on the side of his weapon, a pure white blade appearing from within wreathed in magenta flame to stop the sword that was held within Zi-O's hands. That wasn't the only button available to Ex-aid however, for three rapid presses of the green B button right next to it caused energy to gather at the blade, one strike causing a trio of hit signs to appear and just as much pain to shoot through the opponent.

_**JUU!**_

However, the next time that the Gashacon Breaker slammed against the Zikan Gilade, it would not result in a deadlock as it had done so before. Instead, the entire blade began to rotate backwards, the katakana upon the weapon morphing until it read 'gun' and revealed a barrel that let loose directly into Ex-aid, the Kamen rider flying back. Fortunately, the chocolate blocks floating within the air made for the perfect platform for the action gamer to anchor himself to, standing atop of the game item with a grunt. After making amends with Pallad, he had almost forgotten how much it hurt to fight another Kamen rider.

_**TIME CHARGE!**_

_**GO!**_

_**YON!**_

_**SAN!**_

_**NI!**_

_**ICHI!**_

_**ZERO TIME!**_

_**ZURE-ZURE UCHI!**_

"What?" unseen behind his helmet, Egi's eyes widened as he leapt away, Zi-O having slammed the button above a circular slot to charge the Zikan Gilade with energy. By the time that the countdown had completed, Ex-aid had already leapt off his precarious platform, multiple bullets of kanji impacting the surrounding chocolate boxes until nothing remained of the, or at least that was what Zi-O believed at first. If the enemy had been expecting anything to come from those blocks, it most certainly hadn't been the medal like items that flew out into the open air.

"Nice! Item get!" with such an opportunity offered to him, the action gamer would've been a fool to turn down the free energy items that appeared. Leaping high, there was no stopping the pink blur as he dashed straight into the medals, each one easily absorbed into his body as his belt processed the powers held within and made its declarations.

_**SHINSHUKU-KA!**_

_**BUNSHIN!**_

_**KOSOKU-KA!**_

"…An interesting tactic." Where once a single hero stood, several pink figures suddenly appeared out of the original's body, perfectly mirroring his movements as he leapt into the air. Kamen rider Zi-O's first thought was to shoot them all down, but inhumane speed and stretchiness meant that the mysterious intruder was immediately under assault by a multitude of legs stretching beyond normal capacity. The force pushing back the enemy rider, a triumphant cheer came from the army of heroes as they slowly but surely returned to one, Ex-aid dusting off his hands while the villain tried to clamber to his feet. "…But I'm not beaten."

_**GASHUUN!**_

"Then how about we end this?" the pink hero suggested, pulling out the cartridge in his belt and looking down the connector, giving it a quick blow as he placed it to his side. A special slot caught the cartridge, lighting up in pink as the warrior pressed the button on it twice, taking on a more combat ready stance as the voice called out. "If we're going to finish, might as well finish in style! Let's make it a full on combo!"

_**GASHAT!**_

_**KIMEWAZA!**_

_**MIGHTY CRITICAL STRIKE!**_

Wild tendrils of pink and green energy began to fluctuate around the unknown hero, gathering upon his foot with an immense fury. The jump forward met Zi-O's desperate fist as they both released a cry, the first kick powered by energy sending the appendage flying off the side as the enemy rider cursed. That wasn't the only attack however, for several more kicks formed a deadly combo, each one forming a bigger and bigger hit sign before the term changed to 'great', then 'perfect' as ninety nine strikes landed. With such a violent final blow, there was no way that even a Kamen rider like his opponent was going to escape scotch free, shrinking down to a more humane size as the pink hero fell to the ground.

_**KAISHIN NO IPPATSU!**_

_**GAME CLEAR!**_

"There, now that business has concluded, you can explain why you've decided to attack my Basilicom, destroy my property and then attempt to assault me." Ex-aid stated as he walked over to the downed rider, pink energy covering his form before the blond boy remained untransformed. There wasn't an immediate reply, the intruder making it up to his knee before he remained, panting. "You said your name was Chrom, right? The last good Kamen rider? What makes you say that?"

"…You talk too much." Came the bitter reply, the pink rider giving a shrug in return.

"I'm trying to keep things light considering how much damage is surrounding me. You'll be surprised how hard it is to keep myself from angrily beating you to the ground and throwing you in the dungeon for endangering so many people." Ex-aid retorted, holding out a hand to help the injured boy up. With only a moment's hesitation, looking to the gloved hand, it was slowly accepted, Ex-aid giving a small grunt of approval as he did so. That changed quickly into one of pain however as another of the watches the boy had used to transform found itself jammed into his chest, the rider's eyes widening. It was as if the very world was fluctuating before his very eyes, reality distorting for a moment before all was clear once more – and the doctor found himself looking at bare hands, his armour no longer anywhere to be found. The time for geniality was gone. "What did you do with my power?"

_**EX-AID!**_

_**GAME NO CHIKARA DE TATAGAU DOCTOR RIDER WA… EX-AID DA!**_

"The Power of Ex-aid is mine… your purpose is achieved." The black watch morphed within Chrom's hand, a flash of light having the body turn neon green while the top button and face turned bright pink. A turn of the face revealed the Ex-aid helmet bright and clear, Egi's eyes narrowing; somehow, he had managed to steal Egi's power and take it for himself. Without hesitation, the blond boy backhanded Egi, the doctor reeling back as Chrom drew the Zi-O watch once more, a new determination entering his stance. "With this power, I will finally be able to defeat the core of this evil once and for all! Henshin!"

_**ZI-O!**_

_**EX-AID!**_

_**RIDER TIME!**_

_**KAMEN RIDER! ZI-O!**_

_**ARMOUR TIME!**_

_**LEVEL UP! EX-AID!**_

As bands of light once more surrounded Chrom and transformed him into Kamen rider Zi-O, everything appeared to be the same at first. However, once the base transformation had been completed, a holographic gashat appeared in the air, containing within what appeared to be a sentient set of armour that pulled a pose Egi distinctly recalled as being one of his own before it split apart with a kick from the rider. Those pieces however suddenly began to fall back in on Zi-O, slamming themselves onto his body as silver armour decorated a large amount of his suit, save for pink with black lines upon the thighs and the same game HUD as Ex-aid upon his chest. A pair of label-less gashats formed the shoulder pads, giant Gashacon Breaker styled hammers taking their place upon his arms as goggle outlines and a silver mouthpiece planted itself upon Zi-O's helmet along with three familiar spikes of pink hair. The transformation was completed however when the katakana fell upon his face, no longer spelling rider, but 'Ex-aid'. With something as blatant as that, there was no denying it. Zi-O was facing Egi using his own power.

Without the ability to transform, there was no need to stretch it out needlessly, the rider pressing the buttons on the top of his watches followed by the latch on his driver, the screen glowing pink as its voice called out.

_**FINISH TIME!**_

_**EX-AID!**_

_**CRITICAL TIME BREAK!**_

With a firm rotation of his driver, Zi-O leapt into the air, slamming back down with a shock wave that blew Egi into the wall. While it may have been an imitation born of his power, there was something inherently wrong with, as could be seen by how the hit signs were produced with katakana instead of English and it made the doctor sick. However, without the ability to transform, all he could do was wipe the blood away from his lip as the rider leapt away, producing chocolate blocks beneath his feet to keep him in the air. There was only one choice left at that point, Egi painfully moving himself so he could reach his phone and call one of the most used contacts.

"…Hey Bauen? Yeah, I could use your help."

* * *

"You're joking, right? …Fine, I'll be there as soon as possible." A grizzled old man replied, hanging up the call with a withered sigh. Adjusting the bandolier over his leather jacket, Bauen turned to the others within the laboratory, a sternness entering his voice that had made the inventor so feared by those of the Genmeer development labs. "Listen up, there's been a major disturbance near the Basilicom and I've been called into action. When I come back, I expect to see you lot actually getting something done, you hear me!?"

"Yes sir!"

"Good!" with determination, Bauen stepped out, rubbing a hand upon his stubble covered chin as he held up the Build phone. The things he had heard seemed ridiculous; for someone to steal power at such a rapid rate, it would require an incredibly amount of technological advancement and testing. For this strange intruder to have somehow managed to perfect the technology and place into such a small vessel was insane. With a small lion faced bottle of gold in his hand, Bauen gave it a shake before sliding it into the slot on his phone, throwing out the mobile as it rapidly grew to a far larger size, unfolding and transforming in a manner of seconds.

_**BUILD CHANGE!**_

No longer was there a phone, but an actual motorcycle of crimson, Bauen slipping on and revving the engines before he bolted off towards the Basilicom. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight, not in Genmeer; when your most powerful figurehead utilised a motorbike, it was bound to become popular and recent developments had made the engines of such vehicles far quieter. If there was one thing that was always known when it came to motorbikes however, it was that if you saw Bauen going fast, you immediately gave way – the only times he had went at such extreme speeds were when there was a major issue, usually involving multiple explosions.

Before he could make it to the building, watching the smoke enter the air with a large crowd gathering around what could only be the vehicle his CPU spoke of, Bauen was forced to a swift stop, narrowly avoiding the chocolate block that was punched in his direction. With a growl, the scientist turned up, seeing a Kamen rider who most certainly was _not_ Kamen rider Ex-aid looking down from the rooftops, jumping down with a soft grunt. A black driver entered the old man's hands, a yellow belt wrapping around his waist as he cracked his knuckles.

"So you're the one who made this mess, Kamen rider Zi-O? I'm the cleaner." Bauen muttered, looking to the rider as Zi-O lowered into a combat stance. With the odd hair and giant hammers, it was hard to take the appearance of his enemy as seriously as Bauen would've liked, but all it took was one glance over to the rubble and scrap metal before Bauen remembered just how much of a threat someone of that appearance was. A pair of bottles, red and blue bearing the image of a rabbit and tank appeared in his hands, a furious shake and a twist of their caps having them prepared as they were slotted upside down into the old man's belt.

_**RABBIT!**_

_**TANK!**_

_**BEST MATCH!**_

As the lever on the side of Bauen's driver rotated, a pair of pipes shot out from the front filled with navy and blood red liquids, twisting and turning into vaguely humanoid shapes as the snap builder established itself around the old man like barrier. No matter how Zi-O punched or struck the snap builder, there was no sign of even a scratch as the liquids solidified into two halves of armour, connected to the snap builder as Bauen yelled.

_**ARE YOU READY!?**_

"Henshin!"

_**HAGANE NO MOONSAULT! RABBIT-TANK! YEAH!**_

With that cry, the elderly man was covered in a black body suit, the two halves in front and behind him coming together upon it to form diagonal strips upon his body. His left hand was covered in blue armour to contrast the glowing crimson that covered his left. The opposite was true for his legs, with the addition of a white spiral around the red leg, the left. His chest piece was the same, with red being on top and blue underneath, but the helmet, covering a similar pattern was a small bit more interesting. Two compound eyes looked forward, the right in blue and the left in red, but it was the shape that intrigued. While they both had antenna, the right had it in the shape of a tank barrel, while the other had the ear of a rabbit, a simple eye and nose added to the left eye just for fun.

With a drill in hand, Kamen rider Build shot forward, striking Zi-O's heart before he even had the chance to think about dodging, the half and half rider treating it like a sword as a slash had the opposing rider reeling back with his heels digging into the ground.

"…Kamen rider Build confirmed. Your power's not necessary but it will be useful." Zi-O muttered, lashing out with his hammers. He might not have been able to call upon the same levels of speed that Build did, but that didn't mean that he was defenceless, a number of hit signs appearing over Build's body as shattered pieces of road slammed into him. With a cry, pink energy began to charge at his core before Zi-O suddenly flung his arms out and a wave momentarily pixelated the world. That wasn't the only thing it did however, Build giving a small scoff as his enemy leapt up onto the chocolate blocks that were respawned.

"If you think that's all you need to beat me, you're wrong!" Build growled as the spiral upon his left leg suddenly began to tense up, the spring adding an incredible amount of strength behind his leap as he met Zi-O with a punch. The people nearby fled into whatever shelter they could as they saw the two riders jumping from platform to platform, sparks flying from their armours in equal measure before they landed once more upon the ground. There was no words between them as they exchanged thoughts without words, Zi-O reaching for the buttons on his driver while Build cranked his lever once more, the same mechanical clanking noise filling the air alongside the sound of a clock ticking.

_**FINISH TIME!**_

_**ZI-O!**_

_**CRITICAL TIME BREAK!**_

_**READY? GO!**_

_**VORTEX FINISH! YEAH!**_

As Build leapt up to land atop the new graph he had summoned from thin air, Zi-O looked to the letters that formed his announcement, batting them off the page and reeling back his hand. Punching them forward, Bauen was forced to swerve and dive as he kicked along the graph, the tank treads beneath his right shoe gaining in speed with every step closer he got. Even with a relentless assault however, there was only so many letters for Zi-O to launch, eventually running out of power as Build's kick collided in a fierce shower of sparks, several explosions rocked the watch using rider as he fell back, a flash of pink light removing the Ex-aid armour to reveal the clock theme beneath.

What Build had not been expecting was the hand that gripped the foot he had kicked with, an iron hold preventing the inventor from moving it at all as Zi-O knocked him off his feet. No matter how bruised and beaten he was, Zi-O showed no hesitation as he forced Build onto his back, slamming another black watch onto Build's chest and watching the red and blue power siphon off. The armour split apart before dissolving off Bauen's body, the old man still trying his best to throw a punch and try to take the watch back. Without his rider powers however, it was all for nought.

"Pitiful. An old man can no longer be a rider." Zi-O muttered, turning away before a gunshot in the back of his head snapped it forward. Turning slowly to see the old man wielding the drillcrusher, the drill section placed in a different port to form a gun, the rider gave a small sound of confusion. "You're still able to use your weapon?"

"The drillcrusher was built independently of my powers as Build. That means when rude little riders like you try to steal my power, I still have a little trick up my sleeve." Bauen replied, firing like a mad man in Zi-O's direction, the rider jumping back as several new holes were formed in a building's wall. It was the perfect distraction for the old man to quite literally body tackle Zi-O, only to be thrown into a wall as the time rider dusted himself off. With a grunt, Zi-O threw his hand up, Bauen cursing as several screens began rotating above the rider's head.

_**STAGE SELECT!**_

"My apologies, but I already have all I require. As soon as I can repair my Time Mazine, I will return to my dimension. A world at peace like this… no longer needs Kamen riders like my own." Was the last thing that Bauen heard before his enemy's form dissipated completely, leaving not a trace behind save for the destruction that his actions had wrought. His words were alarming as he returned to his motorbike, leading it towards the wreckage that was sitting before it where Egi, Pallad and Toei were observing the vehicle with intrigue.

"I'm guessing that he managed to get away then?" Egi muttered, leaning against the side of the machine. Bauen's look was all that was needed. "Someone who is capable of stealing the power of Kamen riders… I never even knew such a thing was possible."

"Well he claimed that all he needed to do now was return to his own dimension, using a Time Mazine - which is probably what this contraption is." Bauen answered, running a hand along the cooling metal. It certainly would be an interesting machine to dissect – nothing they had managed to create came anywhere close to crossing dimensions and if that was what the Time Mazine was capable of, then it would be an incredible leap in development. "From what I can gather. He will be desiring to take this machine and repair it – that's going to require a lot of materials. You might want to watch out for raids; that Zi-O kid doesn't seem to care about what happens to this dimension, not if he's making this much of a mess."

"Our best choice of action at this point would be to confiscate this 'Time Mazine' and place it under high security." Toei muttered, the girl's scarf fluttering in the wind as she folded her arms. "Only issue is, making sure we have something that can defend against another assault from that kid. I mean, my fighting skill ain't exactly rusty, but I can only last so long and our defences are the same."

"Leave that to me. After all, he may have taken Egi's power, but not mine." Pallad declared, holding a grin on his face as he held up a thick blue gashat with a yellow dial on the front. Tossing it up and down casually, the CPU Candidate of Genmeer began to circle the Time Mazine, jumping up to sit on its roof. "He didn't think that beating the bosses of this game would be so easy, right? Every leader has their dragon to protect them and I could use the excitement. My heart's dancing!"

"But still, a CPU who cannot access their power… what am I meant to do?" Egi muttered, a navy sparkling gashat in his hands. No matter how much he tried, no reaction came from pressing the button and even if he placed it into his driver, there wasn't any sort of response remotely close to what it would normally do. "I thought it might've only taken the power of Mighty Action X, but it really has taken the power of 'Ex-aid'. How am I meant to act as a proper CPU without access to my abilities?"

"How does that even work anyway? After all, your powers work on technology right?" Toei questioned with her fingers to her chin. "If it were just disabling the machinery, then I bet I could whip up something else to act as a replacement during the time being, but if that rider's also able to use the powers, then I feel like there's something more to it."

"I do not have an immediate answer – my first thoughts are that it targets the unique power sources that allow our technoplogy to function as it does – the special Nebula Gas that powers my fullbottles and the biological strain that fuels the gashats." Bauen mused, pacing back and forth as he did so. If Zi-O were able to remove those power sources and use them himself, then it would be reasonable for us to assume that it would grant him access to powers that were similar to our own. However, in order to find out the truth, I'll need to conduct a lot more research."

"And how do you plan to do that? It's not as if he's just going to let us access his gear and there's only so much we can do to coax him out." Pallad reasoned; sure, he was in shape to battle him and there were others he could call upon that would be able to help, but that didn't mean they would be able to easily find where he was hiding. A small smile appearing on Bauen's face was not the reaction that they had been expecting, the old man rubbing his hands together as he reached into his fading leather jacket's pocket.

"No, we won't be able to easily draw him out – we'll have to hope that the desire to return to his home dimension will be enough to make him attack." Bauen conceded, pulling out something that had all three of the others gasping. "However, in the meantime, I'll be able to conduct as much research on this. I was able to steal it while I tackled him, he doesn't know that he lost it."

The green and pink watch shone in the light, the face clearly showing the year 2016 and a symbol of Ex-aid's face between the parts that would rotate to form the helmet.

"I present to you, one Ex-aid watch."

* * *

**And for now, that's it. Tell me what you think, I haven't got much to say here. This is weird.**

_Super hero time! See you next time!_


	2. clock 2 - Time to experiment

**Hey again. Issues have been taken with Chrom's character and people assume that I've changed it from what it was before to be more edgy. That's not true, it's just the difference between dealing with being faced with enemies and being faced with friends. Unlike the other story, it doesn't start with him in the advantage, surrounded by his fellow soldiers in the Resistance. Here, he's alone and his objective requires antagonising some of the strongest powers. Better to get serious there. At ****least****, that's how I view it. Anyway, let's go!**

_Super hero time!_

_Chrom: Zelda, Link, survive that deadly embrace!_

_Zelda: It's time to flee, but do you have the support you need?_

_Chrom: Don't worry, I've got a plan. I just need to survive!_

_Zelda: Do not act so foolishly! Chrom!_

_C + Z: Now it's time! the hero has come!_

* * *

"I've never seen anything like this… the technology put into this thing is genius, way more advanced than anything we can achieve right now." Bauen muttered as he rapidly wrote down whatever the bevy of machines he had scanning the pink and green watch spat at him. The scientist was completely lost in his own world, Egi left to awkward stand by the side and hope that the older man simplified the near unintelligible scribbles he was making.

"I can barely interpret half of the processes that this watch is running, but it's managed to compress almost every single process I've recorded of the Gamer driver into a far smaller and more efficient vessel, while featuring a component that alters the body in order to be receptive to the powers. It really does hold everything that one could consider linked to 'Ex-aid.'"

"That's good and all, but it doesn't really explain how to get those power back out and into me again." The doctor pointed out, grabbing the watch from the middle of the scanners and twisting its face, a familiar helmet staring back. It wasn't as if Egi could hold it top his chest and just absorb the powers back and without the driver that Zi-O, Chrom, had been using, there was no accessing the powers that way. "Maybe… if you can figure out what part of it absorbed the power, you could reverse the process?"

"There's a possibility, but I'm still trying to figure out how half of this even works in the first place, let alone do something like take powers and convert them into a form like this." Bauen explained, barely able to draw his eyes away as he absently started to tap his pencil. "No, you're going to have to give me time for personal research. You had better return to the Basilicom, there's no need for you to hang around here."

"Right, thanks Bauen." Egi said as he turned around, stepping between several scientists innovating in incredible ways. The black haired man had been amazed by the creations that had come out of the Genmeer development labs, Bauen's leadership causing the research to grow in results near exponentially. For even the best of their group to be struggling meant that the watch was something that was beyond the greatest inventions that could be achieved, and that was concerning if they were in the hands of an enemy.

Fumbling about in his pocket, a yellow gashat was pulled out and its button pressed, a few moments of silence passing before Egi gave a sigh.

"Ah, right. No gashats means I don't even have a bike." The doctor lamented.

"Hey Egi!" a voice tenderly calling out had a small smile appearing on Egi's face as he turned around, an idol steadily slowing down her scooter until she was right beside the doctor. Pulling off her helmet and letting teal locks fall down near effortlessly beautifully, she gave a shy smile. "I was going to visit you at the Basilicom, but Oracle Toei told me that you were here. Apparently, you didn't have a ride so I… kinda thought… you know…?"

"Really? You're a lifesaver Lyrica. I thought you were still performing in Lowee." Egi exuberantly answered, taking the helmet that was held out to him with a thankful bow. Being on the scooter behind her meant that Egi didn't get a good look at the blush that burned across the girl's cheeks with a near volcanic heat, only made worst when Egi wrapped his arms around her waist for security. Rushing to get her helmet on, the blue haired girl took a deep breath before revving the engine, their route to the Basilicom set. "How much did Toei tell you about the situation?"

"Everything she knew right now - that some random person calling themselves a Kamen rider suddenly crashed their ship thing into the Basilicom and then stole your and Bauen's power." Lyrica answered, giving a mental cheer – she hadn't stuttered even with how close and warm her CPu was to her. Considering how serious the situation was, it would've been incredibly embarrassing if she had messed up. "I think I saw some of the other CPUs and their Candidates coming to the Basilicom, so they should be waiting for you there. I didn't even know there was any other Kamen riders, let alone they could steal other riders' powers…"

"Neither did we, but we have to deal with it now. I know you just got back from your tour, but could we ask you to help out? Right now, you're one of the few people we can turn to." Egi asked, Lyrica momentarily bowing her head to hide the flash of embarrassment that passed over her body. The doctor gave small sound of concern as the scooter momentarily veered strangely, but gave it no thought. "While Bauen and I may not be able to transform, Pallad still has access to his powers – that means there's a good chance you still have yours as well and we need any rider we can get."

"O-of course! After all, my CPU's giving the order…!" Lyrica replied, slowing down as they made their way to the government building. Her wavering confidence was clear through the way she fidgeted the whole time they were walking through the main hall of the Basilicom, the amount of men slowly falling as they made their way to the elevator.

Lyrica couldn't help the momentary surprise that hit her – disregarding the numerous buttons on the panel, Egi tapped the side of the elevator, slipping the Mighty Action X gashat into his hand and plugging it into the newly formed slot. Considering that they were on the ground floor, Lyrica didn't know how to feel about the fact they were moving downward. "Um, so… what do you need me to do?"

"We need your help in defending this." And then he doors opened to perhaps the largest underground space that Lyrica had ever beheld, several engineers buzzing about around a scaffolding covered machine that towered over them all. She had heard the rumours – with how fast they had spread across the internep, it was impossible not to have, but actually witnessing the odd creation in person was another thing entirely. "We're trying to understand what we can about this beyond the fact that it's apparently called the 'Time Mazine' and it's what allowed Kamen rider Zi-O to appear in this dimension. I know it'll probably dig into your practice for your career…"

"Oh no, it isn't much!" Lyrica immediately interrupted before releasing a small squeak, shrinking into herself as she began to poke her fingers together. It only got worse when Egi gently placed his finger beneath her chin, lifting up pink eyes with waveforms going mad within them to meet his own. "Ah, I j-just mean, I can put my career aside for a bit! This is way more important!"

"Well, I'm sure if you stay in the corner, you can still practice your singing and guitar, we're not going to keep you here forever after all." Egi added, looking over the work on the Time Mazine. Just as he expected, it was still as slow as ever, especially considering that whatever had caused so much damage to it had ruined much of what would've allowed the engineers and scientists to understand how it functioned.

"You'll be on a cycle with Pallad, but if something comes up, I feel like we're going to need more than just one person; be ready for a random call any moment. I brought you down just to see where you'll be working and how to get here, your gashat gear will also be suitable for activating the elevator. Feel free to go back to what you were doing, you had to be busy with something; I've got to meet the CPUs."

"O-oh, okay…" Lyrica muttered as Egi turned around, heading up the elevator as Lyrica sat down upon a nearby wall. Watching the people move back and forth, a small sigh escaped the idol. "But I kind of… dropped everything to hang out with you…"

* * *

"…Hey, can you hear me?" Chrom muttered into a silver watch-like phone, sitting on the top of a boulder with a wince; the wounds he had taken were healing slowly, but most of the supplies he had brought with him had been in the Time Mazine. After the explosive crash landing, there hadn't been any time to snatch them up before he was forced to eject. "…Chrom here. I'm in a position to provide my mission update."

"_Hey Chrom…! Histy's not available, but I'm here…!"_ a sleepy voice replied, bringing a small smile to the blond boy's face. It only existed for a moment however, ruthlessly crushed as the man tried to hold on to his serious persona. _"So, did you get the rider powers…?"_

"I technically have produced the ridewatch for both Build and Ex-aid, but the Ex-aid watch was stolen in a scuffle with the ones who bore the power." Chrom stated, only a minor amount of bitterness within his voice. After all, it was conflict, not some sort of chivalrous duel – anything went and he had already demonstrated that the watches were what provided his power. Stealing them to prevent Chrom from using them was a perfectly reasonable response.

"Additionally my Time Mazine has sustained serious damage from an unknown assailant and now sits in the hands of this world's riders. Something tells me they're not going to peacefully hand them over, not while I still hold onto the Build powers."

"_I told you taking their powers was bad…!" _Came the scolding voice from the other side of the call, a small amount of sweat coming to Chrom's face. No matter how sweet and sleepy the drawl was on the other side, the girl who it belonged to certainly knew how to deliver on her threats if she got upset._ "So the Time Mazine was attacked…? Did you get into the dimension safely…?"_

"Not the one I intended to enter." Came the exasperated response. "I was aiming to enter the dimension code named 'Mightydimension', but the crash messed with the coordinates. This dimension appears to be a fusion between aspects of the 'Mightydimension' and code name: 'Creatimension'. That's how I managed to ascertain the Build powers. Only issue is, I can't return unless I get my Time Mazine working and considering it's in the enemy grasp, I'm going to need Manawa's help. Can you get here to my coordinates?"

"_Manawa says she can try…! It will take a bit of time however, so hold on tight…!" _the voice eventually replied, a small tut escaping the blond haired boy. It was to be expected, considering how much power it required to search through different dimensions without just casually flying into everything and getting lost in the maze that was the multiverse. Even if they weren't the best when it came to being organised however, the girls were still dependable in the end; they'd get to him eventually.

_"Everything's good on our end… but Game Heart managed to find another Rider Memoire… I think it was Kamen rider Ryuki from the flames… People were safely evacuated, but we have a lot of property damage to fix up…"_

Chrom didn't have any words – what was there to say to an event like that? It certainly wasn't the first time such a thing had occurred, the copious costs of reconstruction and the immense loss of lives causing Chrom's fists to tighten around his phone. It was only after a deep breath that the blond managed to find the strength to speak, only a sliver of hatred entering his voice.

"That should make it approximately ten rider powers that Kamen rider Game Heart has… Our focus at this point in time is extraditing me from this dimension; now that I hold the powers of Ex-aid, I should be able to properly combat him on equal terms." Chrom ordered, the voice on the other side choosing to remain silent about the slight crack within his voice. "Give me a call when Manawa's on her way, I'll attempt to recover the rider power and broken time Mazine. This dimension isn't yet ready for those levels of technology."

"_Okay, take care…! I'll make sure to give you lots of hugs when you get back…!" _the call cut off, Chrom sighing to himself as he folded the phone back into its ridewatch form. This entire trip had been made far more difficult than it ever needed to be, just a quick assault and then return to his own dimension to free it from the evils of Game Heart. When there were a near infinite level of dimensions to choose from, all holding their own special quirks and differences, one dimension losing their riders wasn't that much of a big deal – didn't make it any less awkward trying to explain that to the riders of this dimension.

"Sometimes… I feel like I've become the bad guy…"

"So you're telling me that someone actually managed to steal your powers as a CPU?" a black haired girl stated with folded arms, a look of concern glowing within crimson eyes. Noire, the CPU of Lastation, huffed gently. "Then that means he might be coming after the rest of us next. We should devise a strategy and trap him when he attempts to attack us!"

"No, I don't think you need to worry about that. After all, he specifically mentioned riders and considering none of you are riders, then you're probably not in Zi-O's sights." Egi corrected, leaning back in his chair.

Gathered in the main office of the Basilicom, the CPUs and their candidates were all gathered in a semi-circle, their expressions a mixture between concern and curiosity… save for the Goddess of Planeptune, Neptune never changing from her typical carefree manner.

"I feel as if the security we have right now will be sufficient, but it's better to be informed about a potential threat and not have to act on it, than to be caught unaware."

"And we were here to play a whole bunch of games too! Aw, and I even brought a whole load of pudding here with me!" Neptune lamented, slouching on the sofa. If there was one thing that Egi could praise the lilac haired girl for, it was her remarkable skill to make light of any situation. Her statement earned her a rough elbow to the stomach, Noire's frown growing into a scowl. "Hey, what's with the friendly fire!?"

"You should be taking this more seriously, this is a large scale assault on a nation!" came the scolding, the twin tailed girl pouting slightly when there was absolutely no repentance upon Neptune's face. "What would you have done if someone just crashed into the Planeptune Basilicom, broke a whole chunk of it off and then took your powers from you!?"

"But Egi already said he had everything dealt with, what's the worst that could happen?" Egi blinked in confusion – not at her statement, for Neptune did have some logic to it, as rare as it was. No, it was the fact that in the small amount of time he had taken his eyes away from the hyperactive CPU, she had manage to flip herself upside down, her feet casually kicking in the air. "He's got a whole bunch of people on security, the huge hole is being fixed and a plan to get Egi's powers back is being worked on. There's no problemo, so might as well keep doing what we were going to be doing."

"While perhaps not as casual as Neptune, I don't believe being paranoid would be of any assistance in this situation." Vert added, the green dressed woman pushing strands of blonde hair behind her face with a pleasant smile.

From what Egi was aware of, the Leanbox Goddess should've been far more tired considering the amount of travelling to required to get to Genmeer from Leanbox, yet years of all-nighters playing video games had probably trained her for this very moment.

"Still, she does bring up a good question. You have this plan to restore your powers, but how far along is it? It will be awkward trying to cover up your loss of powers if it draws on for too long."

"That's where I come in!" Toei announced with a huge cheer, kicking the door open as she slid into the middle of the room. With the most triumphant grin possible. The others didn't take to it very nicely though.

The majority of those in the room reacted with simple surprise, Egi barely even phased after how many times he had seen the entrance. Neptune however was not so prepared, the girl's arms flailing wildly in the air before she ended up upon the ground.

A wince ran through the doctor as she hit the floor, but the other CPUs didn't give her so much as a second look. When one was friends with someone like Neptune, you simply got used to the stupid antics like that.

"Well, what have you got then?" Egi asked eagerly, rubbing his hands together. A couple of ideas were flowing through his head already, from an entirely new power to replace the Ex-aid abilities to a magical announcement that Bauen had already managed to figure out how the watch worked.

What he hadn't been expected was for Toei to eagerly push a black gashat into his hands, looking remarkably similar to the Giri-Giri Chambara gashat. Turning it in his hands revealed that it wasn't just any game however, but a black and white version of Mighty Action X.

"So… How is this meant to help when Egi can't use the entire rider system?" Blanc questioned, the brunette looking up from her book with intrigue.

There had initially been questions as to why the Lowee Goddess had saw it fit to bring it to the discussion, but it had only brought forth silence and requests not to ask about it. Considering some of the things they had seen the white dressed girl produce as a writer, they found following _that_ request pretty easy.

"Easy! Basically, if we can't recover the powers that Egi lost, then might as well try and reboot the system!" the black haired girl answered, her grin a little too wide for Egi's liking. "This isn't a like the other gashats you use, consider it a prototype. Using this, we can re-configure Egi's body to accept the power of the gashats a little bit at a time!"

"…Why do I get the feeling that there's a side effect to this…?" Egi muttered, hanging his head. Maybe it was the way that her grin suddenly became highly strained, or the fact that there was just something that felt inherently wrong with the gashat he was holding.

"Yeah, about that… well, no there's no point of hiding it." Toei conceded with an unrepentant shrug. "The watch that took your powers cleansed you entirely of the biological factor that allowed you to use your powers. Without that, you can't even access the weakest form of them. This gashat will generate the necessary virus, convert it into a biological form and we can then directly inject it into your body."

"Wait, we're just going to shove a whole bunch of virus into Egi!?" Neptune yelled, leaping from the ground. Her reaction wasn't the only one of that style.

"Have you actually tested this Toei? How can we be so certain that you're not just going to make him seriously ill?" Noire added, folding her arms with distaste. "You could mess his body up. You could even kill him if you don't control the intake!"

Egi felt a bead of sweat forming upon his forehead. The longer they spent yelling those sorts of things, the more that the doctor felt scared of the seemingly harmless gashat sitting in his hand. Noire was the most vocal about it, touting off all sorts of foul medical consequences of such an operation.

Toei didn't seem to be disturbed by it however, merely nodding along with everything the black haired girl was saying. Eccentric as she may have been, the oracle of Genmeer was no slouch when it came to her job, and that was made clear within her next statement.

"Symptoms of the virus as simulated can range from nothing to symptoms similar to those found in radiation poisoning." The Oracle muttered with closed eyes. Yep, when it was said like that, Egi felt a lump appear in his throat. "However, without it, he has to remain powerless until Bauen _potentially _learns how to extract the power from the ridewatch. We can't risk that for long, you lot were the ones to say that."

There was pure silence after that, for no one had any way to respond. It was pure logic and no matter how distasteful the situation was, Egi's best bet at that time was to go through with the process.

The sound of a knock at the door drew the attention to Compa with far too many supplies in her hands, the pink nurse in training barely able to keep herself up. By the time she managed to stumble into the middle of the room with Vert's help, she was panting like a dog.

"I-I finally managed… to get all of the… s-stuff…" Compa eventually managed to speak before smacking herself in the cheek, somehow managing to revitalise her energy.

Under normal circumstances, one wouldn't have placed that much trust in Compa, not with her common displays of clumsiness and naiveté on the cusp of air headedness. There was a reason why she was still officially considered as in training despite the amount of time she had been in the medical profession. Despite that however, she still was one of the best Planeptune had to offer.

That wasn't to say anything bad about Planeptune's medical system. No, they had some of the best you could wish for, medicine was not an issue in the nation compared to, say, Lastation (as much as Noire didn't want to admit it). It was just that, despite all of her shortcomings, Compa managed to get a surprisingly amount right and efficient compared to what she got wrong with her treatments.

That was why she had been the only one that Toei could turn to when she first came up with the idea and with quite a few of the proper doctors at the Planeptune health organisation being rather reluctant to give her any major assignments, Compa had all the free time in the world to assist. Well, that and she had been playing games with Neptune when the CPU had to come over to Genmeer.

"Excellent, we can start immediately!" Toei cheered, Egi's eyes widening dramatically.

"Wait, here? Now? Like, in front of everyone?" Egi questioned, his eyes shifting around the room.

He was met by a variety of different looks. While Blanc was completely ambivalent to the whole situation thanks to the book she held in her hands, Vert and Neptune were openly giggling at Egi's embarrassment. Noire wasn't as loud with her reaction, but the small tint of crimson upon her cheeks said it all.

Toei blinked momentarily before a hissing noise escaped her lips, devolving into full blown laughter as the God of Genmeer let out a sigh. It would take a few moments for it to die down, the boisterous Oracle barely able to breath enough to speak.

"Whoa, let's keep things PG Doc!" Toei said, throwing her hands out. "We're not going to need you to take anything off, that's what the gashat's for! All you'll need to do is insert it into the gamer driver and it'll be able to inject the virus!"

"…Phew. Guess this thing really does do more than I knew about it." Egi sighed in relief, swiping the sweat off his face.

If he was honest, he knew very little about how the gamer driver worked. While Toei and Bauen seemed to have a fair understanding of its systems and Pallad knew far more than he liked to let on from the teasing smiles he gave whenever the topic came up, Egi's knowledge was next to nothing. It wasn't from a lack of trying; with how many times the scientist had tried to explain it all, Egi should've been able to recite every piece of it and its function, but it never seemed to settle.

And really, Egi was okay with that. The power had been a gift, a magical miracle that had landed in his hands and changed his life forever. When he thought of it like that, there was a certain magic to the whole thing and it brought a tender smile to his face. If he understood the technological side of things, then maybe that magic would dissipate slightly.

"Don't worry! If anything goes wrong, then I'm here to help!" Compa helpfully chirped with a salute. It wasn't much, but it was a slight reassurance as Egi hung his head.

"Well, there's no way we can put this off for any longer." The doctor submitted, taking out his gamer driver and placing it upon his waist. Its familiar weight eased the concern a little bit, Egi holding up the gashat in his hand.

_**MIGHTY ACTION X!**_

The call rang out and a silver light lit up the circuit board, but no giant screen or items appeared around him. Of course it wouldn't, it hadn't been designed to do that; its function was to produce virus and inject it into Egi's body – and when he said it like that, all of his concern returned at once.

But there was no time for debate, the doctor taking a deep breath as he turned the gashat upside down. As he took it into his other hand, there was only one thought upon his mind as he plunged it downward into the gamer driver.

_**GASHAT!**_

"This is gonna hurt…!"

* * *

"Sir…? It's prepared."

"Thank you. I'll be along shortly." Bauen mumbled as he set the watch aside, several locks twisting into place. Scanners prepared themselves for a bevy of different requirements, keypads lighting up as they awaited their passwords. All to make sure that the enemy kamen rider couldn't access them. It probably was a little excessive, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

A solemn frown appeared on his face as he entered the deeper parts of the research facility, the part that very few got to access. Perhaps it had been a bit of a bad decision, but Bauen, when Egi had asked for specifications, had decided to have a select amount of the laboratory replicate what he had used to work with in Planeptune before moving.

While the bad memories might've come with him, it also meant that Bauen had full access to the set-up he had prepared back then in Genmeer, even if it might not have been in use. With recent events however, the fact that they were already prepared allowed Bauen to immediately begin the experiment, an experiment that he hadn't experienced for many a year. There were good reasons for that.

Giving a brief nod to the men in full hazard suits, Bauen sighed as he shrugged off his bandolier and the jacket beneath. This wasn't an experience that he could go through fully clothed after all, not with the way it was designed. Soon followed the rest of his attire, a hospital gown waiting for the elderly man to pick up and slip over his head.

"Is everything optimal?" the elderly man asked a nearby scientist, receiving an affirmative answer. It wasn't necessary, Bauen could see everything that was happening on the screen before the man and that already showed that there were no immediate issues. There was just something more reassuring about hearing it in person. "Thank you. I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible."

The first time Bauen had run the experiment, there hadn't even been half the people that were here then. After all, it wasn't exactly an experiment that one could call particularly… _official_. In hindsight, it had been a rather morally ambiguous test to run, but it wasn't as if there hadn't been consent.

After all, Bauen was both the only person running the experiment and the main subject.

The silver coffin slowly opened its lid, a pair of scientists appearing at Bauen's side. With a deep breath, the elderly man stepped in, gently lowering himself as he felt a sickly cold creep up his spine. A small window for observational purposes was all that Bauen had to see the outside world, a light below him suddenly shining.

Ensuring that the gas mask was properly on his face, he gave a nod to the men peering in, muffled shouts from outside being heard as liquid gradually began to fill the container. Bauen had to supress a shiver at the freezing cold that covered his limbs; there was nothing that could be done about it, the catalyst worked best when coldest.

He closed his eyes when the gas first started to creep around his body and into his mouth, a strangled scream hidden behind the mask and metal that bound him. It wasn't as if he could just grit his teeth, it would only prevent as much gas entering his body and thus extend the period of experimentation. No matter how much he screamed and thrashed about however, there was strict instruction to do nothing to help until the experiment was complete.

And so, just like Egi, Bauen suffered in order to regain his powers.

* * *

"I am not here to hurt you. For the sake of your safety, please stand aside." Chrom muttered as he stepped into the laboratory, met by several guns. Chrom let his hair hang over his eyes, a sigh passing his lips as he moved his arm behind him. "…I understand. This is your job, you do not have a choice. Then I apologise, but for the sake of my dimension…!"

The blond boy was fortunate that there was a stun feature implemented into the Zikan Gilade after a large amount of half-asleep pestering. Without it, the guards before him would be lacking their heads; as it was, the only ailment was a terrible headache that they would easily recover from when they regained consciousness. They weren't Kamen riders, there was no need to put innocent people through anything worse lest Chrom become an even bigger hypocrite.

The security did enforce one thing in Chrom's mind as he moved deeper into the laboratory, dodging cameras where he could and subtly knocking out whoever was on patrol. From what he had seen from spying and eavesdropping, things had become far more peaceful; the security for a place as important as the laboratories was incredibly lax and none of them wielded anything that could do any damage should he transform into his armour.

What purpose did a dimension like this have for Kamen riders? There was little to no crime and the monsters rarely attacked. If they weren't using the powers to protect their dimension, then Chrom might as well find a better use for them.

Besides, he was already too deep into his path to turn back. The powers already resided within ridewatches and unless they somehow miraculously managed to develop technology that was able to do what even his own world couldn't, the riders of this dimension had no way to withdraw them. If it were possible to withdraw rider powers from transformation items, there wouldn't even be a need to do something as convoluted as this.

A grimace came to Chrom's face as he shot down a keypad, a lot more power required to do so than he would've expected. It was distasteful and underhanded, but Kamen rider Game Heart had done far worse things to reach the point he had. With so many rider powers under the enemy's belt, there wouldn't be enough to battle him on even terms without dipping into other dimensions.

"No, you can't feel guilty. There are countless dimensions in the multiverse, the fact that one more won't have Kamen riders isn't a big deal…" Chrom muttered to himself as he slipped through the door. From what he was able to understand of the layout through his spy drone, he should be getting close to his target…

_**SEARCH HAWK!**_

_**SAGASHI-TAKA-TAKA!**_

"Quiet!" Chrom immediately scolded the hawk-like construct as it floated above him, the Taka Watchroid immediately silencing itself as it began gesturing as well as it could in mid-air. It had been one of the few remnants of OOO's power that he could snatch for himself, the majority of it falling into Kamen rider Game Heart's hands just like so many others. "Are you certain that there aren't any cameras in there?"

The quick nod from the metal bird was reassuring, Chrom stepping back as the Taka Watchroid began to spit at the lock. While normally it would be happily yelling out loud what it was doing, it remained unnaturally silent as ice began to build around the keyhole.

With a quick shot from the Zikan Gilade, the lock no longer existed, Chrom stepping into the room and immediately looking towards the incredibly heavy fortifications sitting in the back corner. It was clear that after all of the simple security, actually getting the watch would be far more difficult to do, Chrom giving a frown as he pulled up his sleeves.

"Looks like I don't have a choice, gonna have to take this by hand…" he wasn't looking forward to it at all, not if the size was at all indicative of its weight. Even something half the container's size would be a struggle to move, let alone take out of the laboratory and to a safe location discretely. Unless he wanted to transform and risk getting heard though, it was his only choice.

"Did you really think it would be that easy?"

Chrom held up the Zikan Gilade behind his back, blocking the boot that would've surely had his head slamming into the wall, knocking him unconscious. That would've been an interesting feat if the black haired CPU Candidate had been able to pull it off, almost as interesting as the fact that he had been able to appear behind Chrom without a single sound.

"You've managed to make it through most of the level… but you didn't think there wouldn't be a boss before you could get the treasure, did you?" Pallad continued, flipping off the blade and landing perfectly upon the floor, holding up his own gashat and placing his hand at the dial. "I've been looking for some action and maybe now we can get some proper answers. My heart's dancing!"

_**PERFECT PUZZLE!**_

_**WHAT'S THE NEXT STAGE?**_

_**WHAT'S THE NEXT STAGE?**_

_**ZI-O!**_

"Hmph, so there really were additional Kamen riders. If that's the case, then I don't see why you care about losing part of them." Chrom remarked in return as he slid the ridewatch onto his driver, throwing his arms out as Pallad twisted the dial.

Chrom had no clue how powerful this rider would be; in his own dimension, there had not been a kamen rider who transformed using something like what the CPU Candidate of Genmeer was holding. If there were more than just Ex-aid and Build in this dimension, perhaps there were others he didn't know about…

Still, there was no time to conduct any proper analysis. At that point, the main aim was simply to get out of there as fast as possible.

A giant clock appeared at the same time as a navy game screen featuring a cheerful puzzler. Chrom attempted to hold back his grimace as much as possible; with the amount of noise they were making, there was no way he was going to escape cleanly. There was only one thing left to do then, the two yelling out in sync.

"Henshin!"

* * *

**And we'll leave it there. Hopefully there's a better glimpse into Chrom's full personality rather than just the cold commander on a mission. Though a fair amount's changed, there's also a good chunk I'm keeping the same.**

_Super hero time! See you next time!_


End file.
